Don’t get a dog

Especially rescue cats! Best cats ever 💕

Treatment for worms, tick and fleas are choices you make for your pet and you deal with the consequences.

I am convinced the new tick/flea treatment we gave our dog when he was around 5 caused him damage - his pupil fully dilated a few days later in one eye (MRI showed a swelling on the optical nerve).

We never gave him flea or tick treatment after that and never had any problems with ticks or fleas. Our family dog never had any flea or tick treatment either. We had a tick remover if needed and checked him after every walk, and would have dealt with fleas if we had that problem.

Too late 😁🐕

I'm currently watching a couple I've known for years split up after one of them brought a reactive, hyper, ball and toy-fixated collie home during lockdown. She was a farm dog reject, due to be destroyed for her anti-social behaviour, and won't pee or poo in their garden so every couple of hours they have to take her out for a walk. She can't be let off the lead: just runs for miles as if fleeing something. They built their life around her during lockdown to an unhealthy degree, but both are now finding the constant vigilance and walking and managing (she has bitten several people/ other dogs) too much. They're not prepared to rehome or have her put down so they're taking their frustration out on each other. They are planning to live separately and each will have the dog for a fortnight at a time. I don't know how the dog will react to this, but I doubt it will find it easy. I imagine that both owners secretly hope that the other one will assume full responsibility.

My sister has a Romanian stray that she sadly, after seven years of ownership, has admitted is a very unrewarding dog to live with. It seems to have been lobotomised. They originally assumed its very flat, unresponsive personality was depression caused by the trauma it had been through, but after years of gentle encouragement nothing has changed. It has never played, never wagged its tail, never shown any enthusiasm for anyone in the family, never barked or joined in with other dogs. It goes for a walk, plods about as if it's not sure what to do, relieves itself, ignores other dogs and people, comes home, eats and sleeps. It's a dog that seems to prefer to be left on its own for hours and doesn't want physical contact. My sister has said that they've discussed having it put down because they don't think it finds any pleasure in being alive. She suspects it spent the first years of its life alone, locked in a building or yard, without much human contact, and that living in a house with a family is the dog's idea of hell. Very sad.

Can I add that the difference between having 1 dog and having a couple of dogs is MASSIVE.

I booked/planned a puppy as I’d lost my 15 year old dog (still heartbroken). By the time it was ready to collect I somehow managed to be pursuaded into buying an unsold sibling - now don’t get me wrong, I love this dog and don’t regret it, but the cost is DOUBLE, the mess is DOUBLE, the noise is probably TRIPLE ! Also, you can take 1 dog out with you pretty much anywhere- but not 2 - 2 is a pack. Walking 2 can be a pain too with their stupid leads getting tangled, and the multiple poo pickups mean walking isn’t a relaxing experience like 1 is. Also, every food shop now includes dog food so less money for wine.
Be warned people - a MASSIVE difference.

I have to admit I will never get a dog. Had one growing up as a child/teen. (Parents always had one or two dogs.) But I couldn't be arsed with the faff, the whining, the noise, the smell, the excessive vet bills, and the general tie - and restriction that goes with having dogs. You can't leave them when you go away, and if you have them boarded, it costs multiple 100s of £££. You have to walk them 2-3 times a day, (no matter what the weather,) your house is never clean, it always smells, and they damage furniture/ carpets/ doorframes/skirtings etc...

I met a woman when I was on a walk the other week who was walking 2 dogs, and she asked me why I don't have dogs. I said 'I don't want them.' She said 'you should get them, they get you out walking...' As if I can't go out walking without a fucking dog.

I said 'I go for loads of walks, and don't really need a dog to go for walks.' She said 'but it forces you to go for 3 walks a day.' I thought 'why the fuck do I want to go for 3 walks a day?' I go for one 3 mile walk a day. I don't need any more. Also, I walk quite quickly - and if I had a dog, they would keep stopping to sniff stuff, and piss, and fuck about.

No dogs here thanks. I said to this woman 'I am happy with my little cat.' She said 'oooh I hate cats. Horrible things.' 😐 At that point I said '.......anyway........' and walked off. Annoying arrogant woman!

The RSPCA and many other animal organisations strongly recommend tick treatment.

https://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/pets/general/ticks#:~:text=Ticks%20will%20bite%20and%20feed,although%20it's%20uncommon%20in%20cats.

We've got one easy dog, but she's a bit of a unicorn. She was rehomed from a breeder who...wasn't quite at the level of puppy farm, but definitely a business venture. The dogs were walked, fed, and saw a vet as needed, but they were there to make money. She's just cheerful, relaxed, laid-back, nothing bothers her, totally patient with rescue boy, happy with a short walk or a long one (but other dog needs much more). She had a cancer scare a while ago (benign!) and the vet didn't even have to sedate her to shave her belly and ultrasound her, more than once. Even the vet was commenting on what a fantastic little dog she is. However, its pure luck she came this way. We didn't make her like this, though I venture to say we give her a great home. And of course, she isn't cheap to keep by any means!

regular worming yes - flea and tick treatment, not necessarily. Bitches should be neutered, it depends entirely on the dog whether they need to be.

I don’t routinely flea my dog, flea treatment causes an enormous amount of ecological damage and he’s never once had fleas in 3 years. I’ve never even seen a tick! He’s not neutered either.

I'm so sorry to hear about your darling girl. It's bloody awful pain. Sending hugs xx

They’ve always needed that cost and care, they just didn’t get it. We know better now.

Here is mine, it’s been 14 years of very expensive dog food, hours of training, inconvenience, worry, halitosis (her, not me), poo picking, hoovering hair, occasional terrifying vets bills, curtailed days out, walking in all weathers and these days cleaning up trails of urine.

On the other hand she has given 14 years of purest joy; she’s been my bereavement counsellor, the only being who could manage my DS’s temper tantrums when he was small, she greets me every morning cheerfully, she is gentle and loyal and endlessly entertaining. She still chooses what she will obey and these days I only ask one thing of her; that she lives forever, because I really don’t know what I’ll do without her.

I actually recall dogs living in sheds or kennels or just wandering about the area. Its crazy now the cost and care they need.

My dog is 17 and pay about £90 per month JUST in insurance. I had two dogs - one died last year at 16.5. So - some do live quite long.

Totally and utterly agree.

I adore dogs and have had dogs all my life but they are such hard work and do indeed break your heart.

Our last dog was my best friend, he got cancer (3 times), the vet bills set us back £7k and then we had to make the painful decision to have him pts (I will never forget his eyes boring into mine as the needle went in). Losing him destroyed me and I still cry for him 2 years on.

I felt that I couldn’t live without a dog so got a rescue, love him to bits but he is such, such hard work, he drains the life out of me.

I have loved all of my dogs with my whole heart but I will never, ever have another………Ever!

I'm a cat person really and I've always had cats because I've always worked full time but I really would like a dog.
I've decided to wait until I retire - I have a good pension and I'll get an adult dog from a shelter. I can't be doing with training a puppy. I'll have lots of time to give a dog, I live in the country, I go for big walks whenever I can and I really want a dog companion to go out with to the woods and the beach.
My DS and DiL are big animal lovers, live nearby and he will have my animals when I die or become unwell, we've already discussed this.

Not RTFT. If your DC/DH want a puppy it will be you doing the training, walking, feeding and clearing up.
Even if you have minimal vets fees just dog food is expensive.

DS would love a dog, but it is just not appropriate for us to get one. We live in a flat, I work full time, and I do not want the extra expense.

My mum has a dog luckily that he can spend time with.

@pearpporridge Totally agree. Our rescue sounds much like yours and is 9 . We can’t believe how lucky we got and neither can anyone who hears she was a Romanian stray. But we can’t be that lucky again plus it will be nice to be more spontaneous about trips away .

I totally agree with you, OP. My old rescue dog died at the age of 16 last month and I doubt we'll have another. We got really lucky with him. He was a steady, low-key dog who loved a cuddle and a play but didn't demand it. He was a quietly happy, waggy, friendly dog that even people who didn't like dogs warmed to. We won't get so lucky again and we don't want to risk ruining our lives with one of the barky, nervous, demanding, chronically ill, reactive, fixated dogs all our friends seem to have. I used to happily offer to have dogs stay for a week or two while friends and family went away, but having spent a fortnight with a totally unsocialised cockerpoo, I've knocked that on the head. I can't understand how some people can live with dogs that are never properly walked and have never been socialised or trained, but they do.

They remind me of toddlers that never grow up!

They do become lovely about 4yrs until they become elderly which is where the proper companion years are.

I'm so sorry. Your poor mum and poor you

This is exactly why I can't face getting another pet. They break your heart. My heart has been broken enough.

Oh Martha, what a beautiful girl. I know we have the same decision to make soon with our (nearly 16 Yr old) girl. Sending you strength and love 💐

God some people are thinking even with all the information available about dogs. that's just basic care what you described

I'll preface this by saying I'll never own a dog, and this is one of the reasons.

But I know (rich) old school friends who travel All.The.Time for weeks at a time, in fact they're away now and have been for weeks, (skiing, seeing a uni child, seeing a uni child compete in a sport, visiting friends, visiting family, seeing the country, seeing a uni child again, etc), and then make a HUGE (social media) deal of getting their dog back when they go home.

And then rinse and repeat. Regularly.

The dog spends more time with other people than them.

And yet they claim they love the dog. The dog who doesn't travel with them ever and yet they travel most of the time.

Seems to be a 'thing' amongst a certain class.